I'm there. Riding the "Giro" which is the race, which is now a BC Cup. Current form moderately low, current morale lower with current weather forecast. $$ investment high. What does this equal exactly??

Well the weather turned out much better than predicted all week! Sunday definitely served as a cold reminder of what the Fondo could have been. Yuck. Passed quite a few guys/gals riding down on Sunday....yikes that would have been a cold wet one.

My Giro was a mix of pleasure and pain. Awesome to fly across the Lions Gate Bridge. But reality hit when I punctured just after the turn off Taylor Way onto the Upper Levels Hwy. Guys in the Giro were already shelled on Taylor so I had a bit of a wait for a wheel, but it was a quick change once they arrived, and I got a great push to get going (thanks Bike Gallery!!). I had to chase solo like mad for about 10 minutes and got back to the field just before Horseshoe Bay. Whew, lost a few bullets there. Made my way up front, heckled eventual winner Pinfold for a bit. Then we hit Furry Creek and it was ON. I was the last guy ejected from the front group there, regroup and repeat a few km later at Brittania Beach. General regrouping into Squamish, then it was single-file all the way out of Squamish and the gaps started opening up. I was not positioned forward enough here and paid the price. I ended up in the 2nd group which eventually became the 3rd group when the front group split. Rolled it the rest of the way, only a few guys willing to take pulls as is usual. Then entered Whistler and all the other guys who have sat on for 30 km start attacking. Attacked myself, then my teammate attacked and we split the group.....into the finish and some d-bag almost took my teammate and myself out while sprinting for a likely 30th place. Some heated words afterwards, sorry if anyone overheard. Then bike corral, confusion, and a long walk across to the porta-potties. Food, chocolate milk, check into hotel, shower, nap, beers, food, beers, food, more beers....and then a system shutdown.

All in all a great day, well organized, cones were not as dangerous as I thought they might be but it would have different if there were any crosswind sections. My only suggestion to improve is to have the porta-potties be near the arrival/bike corral!

Well the weather turned out much better than predicted all week! Sunday definitely served as a cold reminder of what the Fondo could have been. Yuck. Passed quite a few guys/gals riding down on Sunday....yikes that would have been a cold wet one.

My Giro was a mix of pleasure and pain. Awesome to fly across the Lions Gate Bridge. But reality hit when I punctured just after the turn off Taylor Way onto the Upper Levels Hwy. Guys in the Giro were already shelled on Taylor so I had a bit of a wait for a wheel, but it was a quick change once they arrived, and I got a great push to get going (thanks Bike Gallery!!). I had to chase solo like mad for about 10 minutes and got back to the field just before Horseshoe Bay. Whew, lost a few bullets there. Made my way up front, heckled eventual winner Pinfold for a bit. Then we hit Furry Creek and it was ON. I was the last guy ejected from the front group there, regroup and repeat a few km later at Brittania Beach. General regrouping into Squamish, then it was single-file all the way out of Squamish and the gaps started opening up. I was not positioned forward enough here and paid the price. I ended up in the 2nd group which eventually became the 3rd group when the front group split. Rolled it the rest of the way, only a few guys willing to take pulls as is usual. Then entered Whistler and all the other guys who have sat on for 30 km start attacking. Attacked myself, then my teammate attacked and we split the group.....into the finish and some d-bag almost took my teammate and myself out while sprinting for a likely 30th place. Some heated words afterwards, sorry if anyone overheard. Then bike corral, confusion, and a long walk across to the porta-potties. Food, chocolate milk, check into hotel, shower, nap, beers, food, beers, food, more beers....and then a system shutdown.

All in all a great day, well organized, cones were not as dangerous as I thought they might be but it would have different if there were any crosswind sections. My only suggestion to improve is to have the porta-potties be near the arrival/bike corral!

Nice writeup! How fast do you guys go up that hill after squamish? Whats the avg KM per hour if you glanced at your computer....(be honest).

Well the weather turned out much better than predicted all week! Sunday definitely served as a cold reminder of what the Fondo could have been. Yuck. Passed quite a few guys/gals riding down on Sunday....yikes that would have been a cold wet one.

My Giro was a mix of pleasure and pain. Awesome to fly across the Lions Gate Bridge. But reality hit when I punctured just after the turn off Taylor Way onto the Upper Levels Hwy. Guys in the Giro were already shelled on Taylor so I had a bit of a wait for a wheel, but it was a quick change once they arrived, and I got a great push to get going (thanks Bike Gallery!!). I had to chase solo like mad for about 10 minutes and got back to the field just before Horseshoe Bay. Whew, lost a few bullets there. Made my way up front, heckled eventual winner Pinfold for a bit. Then we hit Furry Creek and it was ON. I was the last guy ejected from the front group there, regroup and repeat a few km later at Brittania Beach. General regrouping into Squamish, then it was single-file all the way out of Squamish and the gaps started opening up. I was not positioned forward enough here and paid the price. I ended up in the 2nd group which eventually became the 3rd group when the front group split. Rolled it the rest of the way, only a few guys willing to take pulls as is usual. Then entered Whistler and all the other guys who have sat on for 30 km start attacking. Attacked myself, then my teammate attacked and we split the group.....into the finish and some d-bag almost took my teammate and myself out while sprinting for a likely 30th place. Some heated words afterwards, sorry if anyone overheard. Then bike corral, confusion, and a long walk across to the porta-potties. Food, chocolate milk, check into hotel, shower, nap, beers, food, beers, food, more beers....and then a system shutdown.

All in all a great day, well organized, cones were not as dangerous as I thought they might be but it would have different if there were any crosswind sections. My only suggestion to improve is to have the porta-potties be near the arrival/bike corral!

I could not figure out how there were already water bottles on the road on the exit ramp off the bridge ........ ??

Nice writeup! How fast do you guys go up that hill after squamish? Whats the avg KM per hour if you glanced at your computer....(be honest).

Saw the results, finished in 3:24 so 35.3 km/h average. Front of the race was 3:14 I think, that works out to 37.2 km/h. Once the race split the impetus in our group was completely gone and there were only about 5 guys out of 20+ who were interested in trying to set any tempo. I know we were averaging just under 40 km/h to Squamish. On the climb out of Squamish, no idea as I was deep in the hurt locker and not really looking at my speedo just the wheels in front of me.

Originally Posted by louise

I could not figure out how there were already water bottles on the road on the exit ramp off the bridge ........ ??

You guys I guess.

I was told afterwards there was a crash on the exit off the Lions Gate in our race, that would explain the bottles. It was behind me, I was near the front. There was also a crash going up Taylor Way, someone managed to ride into a barrier and take down a few people.